Cook Local, Eat Global

One of the things I like best about working in a restaurant is that it simply isn’t enough to make food that tastes great–it also has to look good. Everyone eats first with their eyes (and arguably, with their noses), long before the first morsel passes their lips. And there are few things more satisfying […]

Pete Wells wrote an interesting piece for the New York Times last week on the subject of chefs and profanity. Entitled, “Too Much Heat in the TV Kitchen?,” the article notes that while extreme language in the kitchen is nothing new, largely unedited consumption of it by the media, and then the reading/television viewing public […]

Cross-utilization and repurposing are two words that get used by chefs and cooks, but not so much anyone else, so let me first define them for you. Cross-utilization means using an ingredient, sauce, or condiment that is usually used for one or two specific dishes for another dish or two where, perhaps, they are not […]

Sometimes, even though proper inventory and ordering procedures are followed, a restaurant will have a surplus of perishable ingredients. In these cases, there are a few things that a resourceful cook or chef can do to alleviate the problem before it becomes a case of unnecessary food waste. (Sometimes, it isn’t an accidental overstock that […]

There is a mantra that every chef knows and drills into the heads of every prep and line cook: “First In, First Out.” Abbreviated to FIFO, this simple principle is at the core of avoiding food loss and waste in a busy restaurant kitchen. What it means is that you use the older food before […]